Friday, July 16, 2021
“That’s the annoying thing”
Becker fires against Zverev, Zverev counters
Alexander Zverev crashes in the Wimbledon round of 16 and Boris Becker attests that the German number one in tennis has too little learning ability and too passive a style of play. Zverev must finally fix the same mistakes. The answer from the 24-year-old professional is not long in coming.
Germany’s best tennis professional Alexander Zverev continues to make the same mistakes from Boris Becker’s point of view. “Zverev fails because of Zverev and not because of the opponent,” Becker told the TV broadcaster Eurosport, for which he works as an expert, in the podcast “The Yellow from the Ball”. The 24-year-old from Hamburg had already failed in the last sixteen at Wimbledon, where tennis idol Becker won the title three times.
The 53-year-old had followed the end against the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime as an expert for the British broadcaster BBC. Zverev has the potential to win Grand Slam tournaments, Becker confirmed to last year’s finalist of the US Open. “But he has to correct the same mistakes, and that’s the annoying thing that it repeats itself from Grand Slam to Grand Slam,” said the former head of German men’s tennis.
“In critical phases he remains too passive, he stands behind the baseline and hopes that the opponent will make a mistake,” said Becker. That’s enough for Zverev against the worse placed players, but the better ones wouldn’t make a mistake. The world number five is now preparing for the Olympic Games after leaving Wimbledon and having a few days off. The Tokyo tennis tournament runs from July 24th to August 1st.
Zverev has now rejected Boris Becker’s criticism of his ability to learn and play. “I know what I have to work on to win Grand Slams, and I do,” Germany’s best tennis player told the “Bild” newspaper. “Boris and I have known each other for a long time. One of them knows what the other is thinking. I know Boris’ opinion. It’s not new.”
Zverev is still waiting for his first final win in a major tournament, but in 2018 he was able to set an exclamation point with the victory at the ATP finals in London. In 2020 he reached the final of the US Open, in the same year at the Australian Open and a year later at the French Open the semifinals. In the coming week, the 24-year-old will be traveling to Tokyo to take part in the Olympic tennis tournament. “My concern now is that I get gold for Germany,” said Zverev, “and I’m preparing for that.”
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